The Top 5 Books in my To-Read List!

Hello all and welcome back! Today I thought I would share with you the top 5 books I've got waiting in my ever growing to-read list! I tend to buy books faster than I can read them (especially if I find a sale..) which means that I always have stacks of unread books lying around my room. I've managed to sort them into an order to try and inspire me to read some more and thought I would share my top 5 with you!

My most recent purchase is 'this book will save your life' by A.M. Homes and I found this in Sainsbury's for £1.99! I have heard of this book before and the blurb sounds really interesting, I was looking for something a bit different to read and this sounds like the book I was looking for!

The next on my list is a recent release and is 'Us' by David Nicholls, as the cover says Nicholls also wrote 'One Day' and 'Starter for Ten' both of which I've read and seen the movies for so I'm pretty sure I'll like this one too. One of the things I like about Nicholls is that he writes the scripts for the movie versions of his books which means there aren't many changes. I found this on sale at Morrison's for £3.99 and couldn't resist.

This next book was a gift from my mum who gave it to me after she and her friend read it and that is 'one small act of kindness' by Lucy Dillon. It's an easy read chick-lit style novel and my mum has told me it's a really lovely story which won't make me cry, so I'm hoping it'll be more uplifting than some of the books I've been reading lately.

The next book is called ‘Skeleton Cupboard’ by Tanya Byron and is a book all about patients that Byron experienced during her training and career as a clinical psychologist. I'm studying psychology at university at the moment and really want to work with people with mental illnesses when I'm qualified which means I'm super interested in reading this. I bought this from a small, local bookshop for £7.99.

The final book on my list is 'The Rosie Project' by Graeme Simsion and is one which has been on my list for ages! This copy actually belongs to my boyfriend who recommended this to me months ago after reading it himself. I've read and heard so many good reviews about this book so I'm excited to start it, hopefully very soon! This copy was bought at Waterstones for £7.99.

I hope you found this post interesting, as I live in England and study in Scotland, these prices are all UK based and bought from UK stores but I'm sure they're all available online if you can't find them at your local bookshop!

I hope you have a good week, please feel free to leave a comment and stay golden! Gracie xo

2015 Reading challenge: Update!

Hello all and welcome back! Since finishing my first year of university I've been reading like mad and that means that this week’s post is an update of the 2015 reading challenge I'm taking part in. Now, I’ll stop babbling on and let you guys decide for yourselves whether these three books are good or bad!

If you want to catch up on my reading challenge, check out THIS and THIS.

Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

(A memoir)

Reasons to stay alive is a book written by fiction author Matt Haig, it's different from what he usually writes as this is a non-fiction book and is kind of a memoir. The book is all about the authors struggles with mental illness, more specifically depression and anxiety. Haig starts the book when he was a teenager and goes right through to present day, the story is incredibly well written and really lets you understand what it must have been like for him to suffer from such illnesses. Despite the topic of the book being something you would usually associate as being bad, somehow the storytelling is still funny and the way it is written makes the content interesting. I think that everyone should read this book as it really does make you think differently about not only mental illnesses but life in general.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

(A book that made you cry)

I originally bought this book before Christmas but have only just gotten round to reading it, and I'm so glad I did!

It's set in 1986 in Omaha, Nebraska and follows the story of Eleanor, who is the new girl at school and Park who is just a regular kid, he's not super popular but isn't cast out either. Eleanor comes from a big family and lives with her mother, step-dad and younger siblings but has just returned after being kicked out. Eleanor's mother doesn't have a lot of money and is abused by her step-dad, it's through Eleanor's life that the author brings to light lots of issues which aren't usually talked about, especially not in YA novels. I really loved this book, you learn a lot about the characters especially as it's written from both of their points of view which let's you learn information about them and their backgrounds. I wasn't expecting to cry, however in the last few pages I really did, but don't let that put you off reading this, if you like other YA novels like those written by John Green, Gayle Forman and E. Lockhart then you'll enjoy this.

Paper Towns by John Green

(A book set in a different country)

I've been meaning to read this book for ages and with all the buzz surrounding the movie eventually got round to buying myself a copy. I've read Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars and really enjoyed both of those so I already knew this was going to be good. Despite really enjoying the characters and the plot of this book, I couldn't get into it as much as I have done with other books which meant it did take me longer than usual to read. That being said, I thought that it was really different from other YA novels and it was really really well written. I love John Green as an author, he always writes in a way that makes me want to just carry on reading his books forever and I really could of with Paper Towns. What I liked most about this book is that it wasn't all focused around Q and Margo as a possible couple, and instead portrayed Q as almost obsessed with the idea of Margo he had inside his head. I would really recommend this book if you're looking for something slightly different to read.

I hope you enjoyed my Reading Challenge update and if you have any comments about these books then please leave them below, I love getting book recommendations so leave those too! I'll be back next Sunday so please come back! Stay golden, Gracie xo

2015 reading challenge: update

Hello all, welcome back! Earlier in the year I did a New Years Resolutions post in which I told you about the reading challenge I was taking part in!

I've now read my first three books and am going to tell you a little bit about each one!

For each book I've created a little collage so you can see the cover and also I've type the blurb so you can read that too if you wish. I bought these books myself and will have where I bought it from and the price under each image. Usually I shop in Waterstones since it's closest to me and has such a huge variety but I also get books from supermarkets which is usually cheaper.

Waterstones // £7.99

Title: The disreputable history of Frankie-Landau Banks

Author: E Lockhart

Which category of the reading challenge?: a book set in high school

Other books by the author: We were liars (see my review of that here)

This book is set in a private school in America and has Frankie Landau-Banks as the main character. I really loved this book and was reading it constantly when I got it. The storyline (without giving too much away) is that Frankie starts a new year of school and meets Matthew Livingston, a boy in the year above her who also knew her older sister. Soon Frankie starts hanging out with his group of friends and starts to think that Matthew is keeping a secret from her and she sets out to find out what the secret is and to get even. It's a light-hearted and funny book and is a great introduction to E Lockhart if you've not read her stuff before.  If you enjoying reading book by authors such as John Green then you will enjoy reading this as E Lockhart is a brilliant young adult author.

ASDA // £3.85

Title: Love Rosie

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Which category of the reading challenge?; a book that became a movie

Other books by this author: PS I Love You

I don't have enough good words in my vocabulary to express how much I loved this book! The characters are amazing, the style of writing is great and the storyline is funny, romantic and also a little heartbreaking! When I saw that this was by the author of PS I Love You I had reserves, because yes, that is also an amazing book but I wasn't sure if I wanted to read something as sad as that- it had me in tears from page one! But Love Rosie is completely different, I will admit that I did shed many tears while reading this (even on the train back to uni after Christmas) but the sadness is all balanced out by how funny the book is too. It's set out in an unconventional manner, and is written in the form of letters, phone calls and online chatroom conversations but that is what I really loved about this book, as writing in that way lets you really follow one character and doesn't focus too much on the setting of the story. I would urge anyone to pick up this book if they see it, it's quite chunky but because of how it's written it doesn't take a long time to read and I was obsessed with this book after the first few pages!

Waterstones // £7.99

Title: If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman

Category of the reading challenge?: a book by a female author

Sequel: Where she went

I have just finished reading this book and it left me speechless. I have owned this book since November but didn't pick it up to read it until the beginning of February and I'm so glad I finally did! This book was also recently turned into a movie (which I've also not seen) and so I did have the actors for the characters Adam and Mia in my head since I know what they look like from the book cover- I'm also a big fan of Chloe Grace Mortez who played Mia in the movie - but I wouldn't say that affected my reading of the book itself. What I like most about this book is how it's written. Every section of book which is in the present is followed by a section which is from the main characters point of view but telling a story from the past, this is a really great way of getting background knowledge and context in for some of the things the character herself is going through throughout the book. This is also great as it means that there are some more light-hearted sections to the story which aren't as sad as the present day sections, set in a hospital. Another thing I like about If I Stay is that the whole book takes place over the course of a few days, even though by the end of it you feel as though you've travelled a full circle with Mia, the main character.

Whether or not you've seen the movie, you should definitely read this book, it's a really lovely story with characters you can relate to.

I hope you've enjoyed this post about the books I've been reading, I am going to do a post like this every 3 books or so throughout 2015, any recommendations please comment below!

Have a great week, and stay golden!
Gracie xo

Top 5 books from my bookshelf!

Hello all and welcome back!

Today I'm going to do a countdown of my top 5 favourite books from my - rather compact - bookshelf. At uni I don't have a lot of room for books, however that doesn't mean I don't prefer some over others.

RRP £7.99

Number one is Divergent, the first in the Divergent trilogy written by Veronica Roth. 

For those who enjoy: The Hunger Games

Others in the series: Insurgent and Allegiant

RRP £7.99

Number two is We Were Liars written by E. Lockhart.

For those who enjoy: The Fault In Our Stars

Others by the author: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

RRP £8.99

Number three is One Day written by David Nicholls

For those who enjoy: romantic novels

Others by the author: Starter for Ten

RRP £7.99

Number four is Perks of Being a Wallflower from Stephen Chbosky.

For those who enjoy: coming of age teen novels, such as The Fault In Our Stars 

Othersby the author: unknown (sorry, this is the only one I've read)

RRP £7.99

Number five is The Ladies Paradise written by Emile Zola.
For those who enjoy: classic literature
Others by the author: Unknown

Those are my top five, they've all been read and enjoyed multiple times and they'll be read many more times in the future! Hope you enjoyed this post, as always stay golden!

Gracie xo

Disclaimer: all the prices are RRP prices from the Waterstones website, these books are probably available elsewhere for a lesser price.

We Were Liars book review

Hello all, welcome back!

Firstly, I'm sorry for missing Wednesday, I had a very busy day of uni work and blogging completely slipped my mind. Because of this I've decided to update only on Sunday's. So every Sunday from now on I'll upload but no more Wednesday's, this means I can juggle uni work, blog stuff as well as having a day off and time to do stuff. 

Anyway, now onto the actual blog!

This week for my final weekday blog I thought I would give you all a small book review of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. 

I read this book just over a month ago and have been meaning to do a review ever since! I'm a huge bookworm - as nerdy as that may be - and since moving to uni I've had way too little time dedicated to reading. 

I hadn't heard of this book, nor its author, when I bought it (from ASDA for £3.85) but the blurb sounded good and for £4 I thought it would make a decent read for the 2 hour train journey to Edinburgh, if nothing else. But now I've read it I am so glad I got it, this book is about a girl called Cadence Sinclar Eastman and her family who all live on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts in America. The book takes you through the adventures she has with her cousins over the course of summer holidays over a few years, it goes through good times and bad times both personally and with issues surrounding her family. The great thing about this book is that it's so relatable in many ways which means you can really put yourself in the story and get into it. It makes you laugh as well as cry and is such a heartfelt honest book. It's only 250/300 words which means that it's not going to take you weeks on end to finish, and you can quickly get into the story and follow the characters individually. 

I would highly reccomend this book to people who like reading books such as The Fault In Our Stars and Perks of Being a Wallflower. If you have read it please let me know what you thought and also let me know any books which you've recently read and think I would enjoy!

Thanks for reading, stay golden! 

Gracie xo